Quotes about thinking

A collection of quotes on the topic of thinking, doing, people, likeness.

Best quotes about thinking

Anne Frank photo

“I think a lot, but I don't say much.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

Plato photo

“Thinking is talking of soul with itself.”

Plato (-427–-347 BC) Classical Greek philosopher
Eleanor Roosevelt photo

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Charlie Chaplin photo

“We think too much and feel too little.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker
Tupac Shakur photo

“I think being humble is sexy.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

1990s, MTV interview with Tabitha Soren (1995)

André Malraux photo

“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.”

André Malraux (1901–1976) French novelist, art theorist and politician
C.G. Jung photo

“Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology
Jack Kornfield photo

“The trouble is, you think you have time.”

Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer

Source: Buddha's Little Instruction Book

Quotes about thinking

José Baroja photo

“I think that a literary work should not be a piece of spit thrown onto the road.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: Interview. "No más cuentos para princesas".

“.. When an individual, e. g. higher forms of animals, thinks, it is always for his own advantage whether the resulting action or expression is favorable or not to the onlookers or observers.”

Isidro A. T. Savillo (1959) Filipino biologist

The Overpowering Influence of the Environment to Gene Expression, Biologybrowser.org, 2002 http://biologybrowser.org/node/1154589,

José Baroja photo

“I think that living only from writing is a privilege, in economic terms, that only some writers have achieved and to which, probably, all authors aspire: a difficult goal that is not impossible.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Original: Pienso que vivir solo de la escritura es un privilegio, en términos económicos, que solo algunos escritores y escritoras han conseguido y al que, probablemente, todos los autores aspiramos: una meta difícil que no imposible.
Source: Cazas Fernández, A. (2022). "La escritura le aportó sentido, coherencia e identidad a mi vida". En Correo Gallego. https://www.elcorreogallego.es/el-correo-2/la-escritura-le-aporto-sentido-coherencia-e-identidad-a-mi-vida-AP10794051. Consultado el 16 de junio de 2022.

José Baroja photo

“The person on foot realizes that there is no misery in cities like Madrid or Barcelona, ​​first world cities that, I think, have lost the heart that Latin Americans still have.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Source: https://www.peruinforma.com/entrevista-cultural-al-escritor-chileno-jose-baroja/

José Baroja photo
Andrzej Majewski photo

“The tragedy of a thoughtless man is not that he doesn't think, but that he thinks that he's thinking.”

Andrzej Majewski (1966) Polish writer and photographer

Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo (2000)

Bob Marley photo

“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Matka Tereza photo
Steve Jobs photo

“Think different and then again.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.
Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“If you’re going to set goals, it’s better for them to be big. If you write them down decisively, it’s easier to succeed. Indeed, my way of thinking is quite mathematical.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Translation source: https://kaerb.tumblr.com/post/170346243034/if-youre-going-to-set-goals-its-better-for (user-translation) from 31 January 2018.
Annotation: This quote is excerpted from an interview filmed in Yokohama on 22 November 2009 after an official practice at Japanese Junior Nationals, aired 23 December 2009 in 2009全日本フィギュアスケートジュニア選手権大会 (2009 All Japan Figure Skating Junior Championships) by BS Fuji.
Page: 124.
Original: (ja) 目標を書くなら大きいほうがいい。具体的に書いたほうが達成しやすい。けっこう理数系です。

Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“Looking back on each element, the absence of the audience this time meant that it was difficult to make that connection [with the crowd], but there are a lot of movements in the choreography that try to speak to the audience, so I think that’s also a key appeal for this program.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Translation source: Yuzuru Hanyu – World Championships 2021 Post-SP Interview https://axelwithwings.com/2021/03/26/eng-translation-yuzuru-hanyu-world-championships-2021-post-sp-interview-210326/ by Axel with Wings, published 26 March 2021. (Retrieved 31 March 2021)
Annotation: Hanyu had to perform his short program Let me entertain you by Robbie Williams in front of empty rinks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was asked, what he wanted to express with that piece of music in particular.
Other quotes, 2021
Original: (ja) 振り付け1つ1つに、今回はお客さんがいないのでなかなかコネクトすることは難しいですけれども、1つ1つにお客さんとつながるような振りが多くあるので、それもまたこのプログラムの魅力かなと思います。
Source: Part 1 of the interview after the men's short program at Worlds 2021, as quoted in an article https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2021/03/25/kiji/20210326s00079000182000c.html by Nippon Sports (Sponichi), published 26 March 2021. (Retrieved 31 March 2021)

Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“Because it’s the music that engenders the expression, artistry, and technique that is figure skating, I think that music and figure skating are essentially one and the same. [...] It’s my raison d'être. It’s the reason I skate.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Other quotes, 2020
Original: (ja) そこに音楽があるから、フィギュアスケートっていう表現だったり、芸術だったり、技術っていうものがそこに生まれてくるのであって、音楽とフィギュアスケートっていうのがほぼイコールだと僕は思ってます。で、僕にとっては… なんて言うか、生きがいです。フィギュアスケートをやる理由です。
Source: Hanyu in an interview from 2019 about the meaning of the music, aired 28 March 2020 in フィギペディア~2019-2020シーズン特別編 (Figurepedia 2019-2020 season special edition) on TV Asahi.

Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“I bet my life to skate, everytime. I think, that's the mission of my life. That's why I was born here. [...] I was born for my skate.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

CBC interview with Scott Russell

Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“I don't dislike adversities. What I dislike is myself being weak. I really hate it, but I think being weak means that you have the potential to become strong.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Other quotes, 2014
Original: (ja) 逆境は嫌いじゃないので。弱くなってる自分がすごく嫌なんです。それは本当に嫌いですけど、でも弱いというのは強くなれる可能性があると思ってるんで。
Source: Excerpt from a press conference at the NHK Trophy 2014, held on 30 November 2014, aired the same day in ネオスポ (Neospo) on TV Tokyo and 15 December 2014 in News Every on NTV.

Tupac Shakur photo
Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“I am not really into making a lot of comments for myself. More than anything, I am already feeling a lot of love from many supporters. So... in that sense, I don't think I need to do anything special.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Other quotes, 2018
Original: (ja) 特に自分からコメントを常に発信したいなとは思ってないし、何よりも、自分がたくさんの方々に愛してもらってるのはすごく分かってるので…うん…あのー、何だろう? 特別自分から何かをしなくてもいいかなという風に思っています。
Source: Hanyu about his absence from social media in an interview https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/video/detail/yuzuru-hanyu-happy-to-say-nothing-at-all/ at the Olympics 2018, published 27 February 2018 on the Olympic Channel. (Retrieved 18 September 2020)

Yuzuru Hanyu photo

“More than anything else, I want to make every day count now. I want to make every single normal day, every ice show, every practice and every competition count. That's what I have been thinking about the most since the day of the earthquake.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Page: 165.
Blue Flame
Original: (ja) 今はとにかく、一日一日を大事にしたいと思う。何気ない日常の一日一日、アイスショーの日々、練習の日々、試合の日々をすべて大切にしたい。そんなことを、あの日を境により強く感じるようになりました。

Hatake Kakashi photo
Bob Marley photo

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect—you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break—her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

Variant: You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect — you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break — her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there.

Tom Hiddleston photo
Tom Hiddleston photo
Ella Fitzgerald photo
Lil Peep photo
Tom Hiddleston photo
Robert Baden-Powell photo

“If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech because he was afraid that possibly when the time came for him to die he might not have time to get it off his chest. It is much the same with me, and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days and I want to send you a parting word of goodbye.

Remember, it is the last you will ever hear from me, so think it over.

I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have as happy a life too.

I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man.

Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.

But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn come to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. "Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you do it.”

Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement
Kurt Cobain photo
Cornelius Keagon photo
Cornelius Keagon photo
Harry Styles photo
Cornelius Keagon photo
Adolf Hitler photo
Louis Zamperini photo

“I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self destructive. If you hate somebody, you're not hurting the person you hate, you're hurting yourself. It's a healing, actually, it's a real healing… forgiveness.”

Louis Zamperini (1917–2014) Italian-American middle distance runner

Variant: I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self destructive. If you hate somebody, you're not hurting the person you hate, you're hurting yourself. It's healing, actually, it's real healing...
Forgiveness.

Nikola Tesla photo

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

First attibution is to Ralph Bergstresser who claims to have heard this from Tesla in a conversation "following an experience with the Maharaja's son".
Disputed
Source: Coments From The Inventor of the Purple Harmony Plates http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/esp_ciencia_universalenergy02.htm,

Rick Riordan photo
Johnny Depp photo
Hannah Arendt photo
Cristiano Ronaldo photo

“In my mind, I'm always the best. I don't care what people think, what they say. In my mind, not just this year but always, I'm always the best.”

Cristiano Ronaldo (1985) Portuguese association football player

[BBC Sport, Cristiano Ronaldo: I'm the best player in the world, 5 November 2015, 4 February 2018, http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/34737914]
In an interview with the BBC ahead of the release of Ronaldo.

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Johnny Depp photo
Kurt Cobain photo

“I don't care what you think unless it is about me.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Variant: I don't care what you think unless it is about me

Johnny Depp photo

“Just keep moving forward and don't give a sh** about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do, for you.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Variant: Just keep moving forward and don't give a shit about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do, for you.

Harry Styles photo

“I believe in equal rights for everyone. I think God loves all”

Harry Styles (1994) English singer, songwriter, and actor

Twitter response to anti-gay religious group Westboro Baptist Church picketing a One Direction concert (19 July 2013) https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/westboro-baptist-church-one-direction_n_3634663
Context: Despite the company outside, I believe in equal rights for everyone. I think God loves all. Thanks for coming to the show though.

James Baldwin photo

“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.”

"In Search of a Majority: An Address" (Feb 1960); reprinted in Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_My_Name (1961)

Jane Austen photo

“It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.”

Variant: It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do. Or fail to do...
Source: Sense and Sensibility

Terry Pratchett photo
Johnny Depp photo

“We're all damaged in our own way. Nobody's perfect. I think we're all somewhat screwy. Every single one of us.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Quoted in Bernard Weintraub, "Playboy Interview: Johnny Depp," Playboy (May 2004)
Context: I do have an affinity for damaged people, in life, in roles. I don't know why. We're all damaged in our own way. Nobody's perfect. I think we are all somewhat screwy, every single one of us.

Miley Cyrus photo
Emmy Noether photo

“My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously.”

Emmy Noether (1882–1935) German mathematician

Letter to Helmut Hasse (1931) as quoted in Auguste Dick, Emmy Noether, 1882-1935 (1981) Tr. H. I. Blocher, p. 61.

Harry Styles photo
Carl Sagan photo

“Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), p. 8, Supplemental image at randi.org http://www.randi.org/images/122801-BlueDot.jpg

Jordan Peterson photo
Maryam Mirzakhani photo

“I don’t think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don’t give mathematics a real chance.”

Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017) Iranian mathematician

Interview with Research Fellow Maryam Mirzakhani | january 2008

Charles Manson photo
Paramahansa Yogananda photo
Werner Heisenberg photo

“Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”

Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) German theoretical physicist

Source: Across the Frontiers

Paul McCartney photo
Nikola Tesla photo
Malala Yousafzai photo
Selena Gomez photo
Billie Eilish photo
Hatake Kakashi photo

“This place makes me think about the mistakes I've made in the past… and I've made so many of them.”

To Yugao, about Obito's name engraved in the Memorial Stone

Hermann Hesse photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Theodor W. Adorno photo

“Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.”

Theodor W. Adorno (1903–1969) German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society
John Wooden photo

“Worry more about your character than your reputation. Character is what you are, reputation merely what others think you are.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Variant: Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Marie Curie photo
Timothy Leary photo

“Think for yourself and question authority.”

Timothy Leary (1920–1996) American psychologist

Timothy Leary's track on Sound Bites from the Counter Culture (1989)

Vincent Van Gogh photo

“The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote in Vincent's letter, from Arles, Tuesday, 18 September 1888; as cited in Van Gogh : The Self-portraits (1969) by Fritz Erpel, p. 17
Variant translations: The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.
As quoted in Mary Engelbreit's Words To Live By (1999) by Mary Engelbreit
I tell you the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.
1880s, 1888
Variant: There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

Kurt Cobain photo

“I think I'm dumb
or maybe just happy
think I'm just happy…”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Variant: I think I'm dumb or maybe just happy.

Stephen King photo
Jordan Peterson photo
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky photo
Leonardo DiCaprio photo
Jane Goodall photo
Robert K. Merton photo

“No man knows fully what has shaped his own thinking”

Source: Social Theory and Social Structure (1949), p. ix (1957 edition)

“I am less than what you tell about me but more than what you think about me”

Nahj al-Balagha
Context: A man sarcastically started praising Imam Ali, though he had no faith in him and Imam Ali hearing these praises from him said "I am less than what you tell about me but more than what you think about me."

“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really.”

The Sheltering Sky (1949)
Context: Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Kurt Gödel photo
Carl von Clausewitz photo
Virginia Woolf photo

“As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.”

Source: Orlando: A Biography (1928), Ch. 6

Andrea Dworkin photo
Sergei Rachmaninoff photo
Roald Dahl photo
William Shakespeare photo

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Touchstone, Act V, scene i
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)

Madeleine K. Albright photo
Robert Greene photo
A.S. Neill photo
Charles Bukowski photo